Thank goodness for the city of Louisville making the sidewalks safe for people with disabilities.

Police officers got up at the crack of dawn on Thursday, donned what Occupy ICE called "their riot gear" and took down the canopies that Occupy ICE had erected across the sidewalks on 7th Street. City workers loaded up some items and hauled them off.

Why? Because the ne'er-do-wells hadn’t given a full 4 feet for people walking down the sidewalk — a violation of the federal American’s with Disabilities Act.

Just wait until Chief Steve Conrad and LMFP (the Louisville Metro Footpath Patrol) get a hold of the rest of the scofflaws in this city, like:

The ne'er-do-wells in the federal government, who have erected black metal bollards all the way around the Gene Snyder U.S. Courthouse and Custom House. The widest gap between the posts is one at the corner of 6th and Broadway — just 33 inches at the base.

Even the bollards at the courthouse's handicapped accessible entrance aren't ADA compliant.

Shame.

And then, there are the ne'er-do-wells at the Brown Hotel, who park cars on the west side of 4th Street that are sometimes just inches away from the brick and metal fence around the Kindred building’s courtyard.

On Thursday morning, one big black SUV was 38 inches away from a brick column.

(What makes that even more annoying is if you cross and walk down the other side of 4th Street, the Brown has erected large concrete planters in the middle of the sidewalk that force people to run a veritable obstacle course.)

Can’t wait until LMFP starts towing guests in our city.

Next are the ne'er-do-wells with the city of Louisville, who put up barricades on 7th Street to make it difficult for Occupy Ice to re-erect its camp. The gap police left at the sidewalk to get into the ICE building was just 43 inches late Thursday morning.

Police erected this barricade in front of the the Louisville Immigration and Customs Enforcement office. It is not Americans with Disabilities Act compliant because the opening is only 43-inches wide and not the required 4-feet.(Photo: Joseph Gerth)

I can’t wait for the folks at Occupy ICE to load the metal barricades onto trucks and haul them off, and tell Conrad where he can claim any property that belongs to him. (A couple of hours later, the barricades were moved, making the sidewalk ADA compatible.)

Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer’s office said the city is beginning to crack down on businesses that encroach on sidewalks as well but that the bollards in front of the federal courthouse, well, that's a federal issue.

The crackdown hasn't made its way to several establishments on Bardstown Road, where outdoor seating often crowds pedestrians.

It’s hard to believe that the crackdown on Occupy ICE has anything to do with the ADA when the city allows others to violate the rule requiring a 4-foot path on sidewalks willy-nilly.

Construction projects shut down sidewalks for months at a time, even when there is little reason for it.

It’s set back from the road by some 30 yards, but throughout the entirety of the construction, which seems like it was more than a year and a half, the entire sidewalk was shut down.

David Allgood, the director of advocacy for the Center for Accessible Living, said traveling sidewalks in Louisville is difficult for people with disabilities and that he appreciates efforts by the city to make it easier.

That said, he said the group has complained several times about the cars that are parked daily across the street from the Brown Hotel, and the city has done little about it.

Sitting in his office, he said, he could look out the window at a construction project that had closed a sidewalk for a significant length of time. Allgood, who uses a wheelchair, called that a “minor inconvenience” because he can simply cross to the other side of the road and get where he is trying to do.

“You can say the same about the ICE thing,” Allgood said.

This wasn't about the ADA at all. It was about shutting down protest. Fischer should be ashamed.

Joseph Gerth's opinion column runs on most Sundays and at various times throughout the week. He can be reached at 502-582-4702 or by email at jgerth@courierjournal.com. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: courier-journal.com/josephg.